Wednesday

Apr 8, 2020 at 4:03 PM

A homeowner’s lawsuit that accused Palm Beach officials of discrimination by violating equal-protection rights guaranteed by the Constitution has ended with a settlement and a dismissal by a U.S. district court.

Add another judicial decision — plus a settlement — to the list of long-standing and complex legal cases involving a Palm Beach neighborhood where two families with oceanfront mansions are at odds with each other. That would be the Jacobses and the Thorntons, who live side by side off South Ocean Boulevard at Emerald Beach Way.

The limited company that owns the Jacboses’ home — 100 Emerald Beach Way LC — last month stumbled in its efforts to convince a federal court that town officials violated its constitutional rights under the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The claim was made in a lawsuit 100 Emerald Beach Way LC filed last May against the town. The suit accused Palm Beach officials of unfairly and selectively enforcing municipal ordinances to favor the Thorntons in a variety of disputed issues between the neighbors. The suit also claimed officials colluded with the Thorntons or their representatives in making those decisions.

The Thorntons were not a party to the suit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Florida.

The legal action sought monetary damages and an injunction to stop the town from further alleged discrimination against the plaintiff and from continued alleged violations of its due-process rights.

100 Emerald Beach Way LC is controlled by Lamia Jacobs, who is married to Bradley Jacobs. Their oceanfront house at 100 Emerald Beach Way is immediately north of the one that John L. Thornton and his wife, Margaret, have homesteaded in Palm Beach County’s tax rolls. Both homes are a few lots south of President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club.

At issue in various lawsuits filed since 2014 have been the removal of the Jacobses’ beach-access wall and shed; the installation of a tennis court and parking area on the Thorntons’ property; and how parking, signage and related issues have been handled on Emerald Beach Way. That private drive and cul-de-sac is owned by the Thorntons but provides access to the Jacobses’ house.

Late last month, U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith issued an order in the 14th-Amendment suit. In essence, he told the plaintiff it had not laid the proper groundwork for the discrimination charges — but he did give the Jacobs home’s ownership company the chance to return to court to "correct factual deficiencies in the pleading." But, Smith cautioned, new legal theories were banned from presentation in the revised pleading.

The company, however, declined to do return with revisions, instead entering into a settlement with the town. That move led the court to dismiss the case "without prejudice," meaning the charges could be refiled, even though the judge warned that any refiling would have to correct the deficiencies he pointed out in the original arguments.

"We consider that a win," said attorney Joanne M. O’Connor, who represented the town.

An attorney for the plaintiff could not be reached for comment.

Failed ‘to state a claim’

The judge’s March 27 order said 100 Emerald Beach Way LC failed to provide an apples-to-apples comparison to prove the town unfairly favored the Thorntons’ interests over the Jacobses’ in a variety of separate decisions. Those decisions were made by the Code Enforcement Board, Architectural Commission and Town Council.

The plaintiff didn’t "adequately plead (in its arguments) that the Thorntons are similarly situated to the plaintiff," Smith wrote. The phrase "similarly situated" is a legal term stipulating an apples-to-apples comparison between the parties so that any claims of discrimination on the government’s part could be more clearly discerned.

Constitutional cases that accuse governments of discrimination typically involve groups of people claiming to be victimized. But the Jacobs home’s ownership company maintained during the case that the court should treat it as a so-called "class of one," a status that has been recognized in U.S. courts.

The judge, however, rejected the status in this case, saying the plaintiff had failed "to state a claim for a ‘class of one’ protection violation."

Letter drafted

Under the terms outlined in the court’s settlement and dismissal order, the plaintiff will forgo "filing an amended complaint and allow the court’s dismissal without prejudice to stand, and the town will circulate a guidance letter to its department heads regarding pending litigation involving the Emerald Beach Way subdivision. Each party will bear its own (legal) fees and costs."

The "guidance letter" offers brief information about seven lawsuits in various stages of litigation. Five of those were brought by the Jacobs house’s ownership company against the town or its entities. A sixth was brought by the same company against the Thorntons and a real estate firm.

Only one of the cases mentioned in the letter was filed by the Thorntons. The defendants in that suit were the town’s Code Enforcement Board and the Jacobs house’s ownership company.

The letter is addressed to Town Manager Kirk Blouin and signed by Town Attorney John Randolph. In it, Randolph advises department heads and their staffs not to communicate with the litigants, their agents, their attorneys or their representatives "regarding any of the matters in dispute" without first contacting the town attorney.

"As you might imagine," the letter says, "such communications, without first consulting with the town’s attorney, may prejudice the town and the affected parties in regard to their pending cases."

The letter gives the same advice to the Town Council and members of town boards and commissions.

In his order addressing the issues in the now-dismissed 14th-Amendment suit, the judge rejected the town’s assertions that the plaintiff failed to "join the Thorntons" as so-called "indispensable parties" in the suit. The judge also rejected the town’s assertion that the plaintiff "wanted the court to take action "with respect to the structures at issue, the parking or the cul-de-sac."

Lamia Jacobs is a former oil trader, and her husband, Bradley, made his fortune in the transportation and logistics industry. John Thornton is a former president of Goldman Sachs, the investment bank.

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This story was updated from a previous version to clarify the dismissal of the suit "without prejudice."